Method of making multiplex fasteners or nails



March 16, 1937. J H M F U 2,073,943

METHOD 9F MAKING MULTIPLEX FASTENERS QR NAILS Filed May 1, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 v INVENTORJ ATTORNEY" March 16, 1937. J, H, MC AUL 2,073,943

METHOD OF MAKING MULTIPLEX FASTENERS OR NAILS Filed May 1, 1956 .4 Sheets-Sheet 2 cs. N ;g 5

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March 16, 1937. J. H. MOFAUL.

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Patented Mar. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES man PATENT OFFIQE METHOD OF MAKING MULTIPLEX FAS- TENERS OR NAILS ware Application May 1, 1936, Serial No. 77,344

11 Claims.

This invention has reference to the art of making corrugated nails or fasteners, and particularly relates to a method for making such nails or fasteners out of a strip of fiat material which is primarily divided into duplex nail strips, which in turn are divided into individual nail strips, and which latter may be subsequently severed transversely to produce the nails or fasteners of predetermined or desired length.

Among the objects of my invention may be noted the following: to provide a method of making nails or fasteners from a strip of fiat material of indefinite length and predetermined width, which is simple, economical and effective;

to provide a method by which a flat strip of indefinite length and predetermined width may be fabricated into a plurality of individual nail strips which may be wound on reels and sold, and subsequently cut into an indefinite number of nails or fasteners of any desired length; to provide a method by which corrugated nails or fasteners may be fabricated as the result of a plurality of simple and economical steps which can be carried out by simple tools or mechanism, the 5 characteristic features of which latter may be varied according to the characteristic features it is desired to impart to the finished nail strips; and to provide a simple and economical method of fabricating an indefinite numberof nail strips,

having predetermined characteristics, from an endless strip of fiat material the width of which is determined by the number of nail strips to be produced, or the length or size of the nails which are ultimately desired or required.

With the above objects in view and others which, will be set forth during the courseof this description my invention consists in the method of fabricating nails hereinafter described and claimed.

40 In order that my invention may be clearly understood I have provided drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of simple mechanism which may be employed for delivering, punching and initially advancing the continuous strip of material;

Figure 1a is a view in side elevation, to be read in continuity with Figurel, of other simple mechanisms for carrying out certain steps of my process;

Figure 2 is a plan View of a continuous strip of blank material provided with certain characteristics imparted thereto in accordance with the steps of my method; and

A Figure 2a is a plan View of the strip shown in Figure 2, to be read in continuity with the latter, provided with other characteristic featmes imparted thereto in accordance with the steps of my method.

It is to be noted that as to the mechanism, or simple tools, employed by me for carrying out 5 my method, Figures 1 and 1a are to be read in continuity, while Figure 2 shows the characteristics given to the strip of material by the tools of Figure 1, and Figure 2a shows the characteristics given to the strip of material by the simple mech- 10 anism of Figure 1a, it being also understood that Figures 2 and 2a are to be read in continuity.

Prior to my invention, it has been common to make corrugated nails or fasteners out of a single strip of metal, the strip having the same width 15 as the finished fastener and, in all instances known to me, the strip of material has to be ground or treated so as to produce effective penetrating points along the edge, involving additional and independent operations and increasing cost. This is objectionable because the method is wasteful and because only one size of nails can be produced from the nail strips. It has also been proposed, in the prior art, to make nails from a corrugated strip of material the edges of which are sWaged, primarily, and subsequently are sharpened by grinding and bufling in order to remove burrs or other flaws which appear on the nails after being severed from the nail strips. This is objectionable'because of the length of time required and the number of operations required to be performed, all tending to increase the cost and lengthen the period of production, as well as increase the difliculties of the process and of manipulation. 5

It is further among the objects of my invention to overcome all the difficulties and objections above noted and to simplify the process so as to avoid waste of time, reduce the number of operations required in the production of the nail strips and individual nails, simplify the tools required in making the nails, and produce a simplified nail which is complete when clipped or severed from the nail strip and which requires neither bufiing, grinding nor polishing to com- 45 plete the same.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral I, Figure 1, indicates a reel, or spool, of fiat material which may be of indefinite length and predetermined width, the width depending upon the number and width of nail strips to be produced from the continuous strip. This material may be sheet iron, steel, copper, brass or any other material of which it is desired to make the nails. The material, or fiat strip, indicated at 2 is led to a guide 3 and thence to a punch-press, the head 4 of which is carried by a plunger 5 and the bed or female member 6 of which is fixed to a suitable support 1. Referring to Figure 2, it will be seen that the punches 8, carried by the head 4, are of such character as to produce rectangular edge notches 9 and rectangular intermediate slots 19, the slots and notches being arranged in parallelism and extended lengthwise of the strip 2; and also to produce first a series of spaced apart elliptical apertures I I and then a series of elliptical apertures l2 alternating with the apertures l I, so as to leave between the two series of elliptical apertures l I and I2 very thin webs or divisions which will, according to my method, produce the points of two strips of nails. The punch press also carries any suitable type of initial advancing mechanism I4, adapted to operate upon the strip 2 by engaging with the edge notches 9 to initially advance the strip relatively to the various punches, resulting in properly placing the notches, slots and apertures longitudinally of the strip.

After leaving the punch-press the basic strip 2 is allowed to form or drop into a loop l5, and thence is led by hand over a guide roll l6 and into the central slot of a guiding member 18, Figure la. The guiding slots 19 are engaged by the teeth of a feed roller or feed wheels IT, or other suitable feeding device, which positively advance the strip 2 through the guide l8. This feeding means should be continuous, as distinguished from the intermittent advancing means l4, hence the utilization of the loop Hi to compensate for the difference in feeding speed between the intermittent feed members I4 and the continuous feeding means l1.

The guiding device l8 leads the perforated strip of material directly to the corrugating tools I9, which produce the transverse corrugations i9a, Figure 2a. As the strip 2 passes from the corrugating tools, it is sheared along predetermined lines by cutters, or shearing means, 20 producing the parallel shear lines 20a shown in Figure 2a.. This results in separating the edge waste-strips having the notches 9 therein and the intermediate Waste-strips having the slots l0 therein, from the basic strip 2, leaving three duplex nail strips having the elliptical apertures H and I2 extending longitudinally of the respective strips. The

' duplex strips which have been thus separated from the basic strip 2, are then subjected to the action of scoring wheels 2|, which score the webs 2la, extending between the elliptical apertures, on both surfaces, the scoring line extending midway of the apertures and along the length of the line thereof. Simultaneously, the scoring wheels 2| bend the webs 2|a into a horizontal plane extending midway between the hills and dales of the corrugations, this being done without distorting the latter. The waste strips with the notches 9 and slots ID, are advanced with the duplex strips; but, are caused to pass the scoring wheels without hindrance. The apertured, corrugated, and scored duplex strips are then caused to contact with a guiding and tension bar 22, the several waste strips, traveling along with the duplex strips, also being led to and bent over the tension bar 22, and subsequently wound upon, or taken up by, a plurality of reels 23, the several waste strips being indicated at 23a in Figures 1a and 2a. The members of the duplex strips, by being raised and lowered relatively to the tension bar 22, are split or broken apart along the scored lines, said bar separating the duplex strips into individual strips which are led, as shown at 24c and 25a, respectively, alternately to the take-up or winding reels 24 and 25.

Being thus disposed of, the waste strips on the reels 23 are discarded, while the individual nailstrips 24a. and 25a wound on the respective reels 24 and 25 are now in commercial condition and are sold in that condition to the user who, by any suitable cutting mechanism, cuts 01f the desired length of nail, without regard to the corrugations. As shown in Figure 2a, the nails have the characteristics of long points and deep grooves along one edge of a corrugated body, the other edge of which is straight or smooth and affords the impact end of the nails after being cut from the strip. The points and grooves of the nails, made according to my process, require neither sharpening, swaging, burring nor buffing.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that, according to my method, I utilize a basic strip of indefinite length and predetermined width and, first, produce therefrom a plurality of duplex nail strips, and from such duplex nail strips produce double the number of individual nail strips, which are wound upon the reels for commercial purposes. These individual nail strips are sold into commerce by the reel and require only to be separated into the constituent nails or fasteners required by the user. Nothing else has to be done to the nails and it is immaterial how the nail strips are severed transversely for the production of the individual nails, since the corrugations are uniform and are not a hindrance in any respect.

It will be understood that by changing the form of the various punches, the form of the guiding and feeding slots may be changed; and the form of the other apertures in the basic strip 2, may also be changed which latter will result, or may result, in reducing or increasing the length of the nail points and the depth of the grooves between the points. It will also be understood that by changing the form of the corrugating members, the corrugations in the basic strip may be correspondingly changed to give the nails different and other characteristics.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of producing corrugated nailstrip, comprising simultaneously slotting and perforating a fiat strip of material along parallel lines, intermittently advancing the strip to a given point corrugating the strip transversely, severing the strip into a plurality of parallel duplex strips, and dividing the duplex strips into individual nail strips.

2. The method of producing corrugated nailstrips comprising subjecting an endless strip of material of predetermined width to the action of punching means, intermittently advancing the strip relatively to the punching means, corrugating the punched strip at an angle to the punched lines, scoring the strip along parallel lines, breaking the strip into a plurality of narrower strips, and winding the latter strips upon a plurality of reels.

3. The method of producing nail strips comprising producing therein a plurality of lines of apertures and notches, producing in said strip corrugations arranged transversely to the lines of apertures, subjecting the corrugated strip to scoring means producing scored lines on both surfaces of the strip, and breaking the strip along the scored lines into a plurality of individual strips, substantially as described.

4. The method of producing a plurality of individual nail strips comprising the utilization of an endless strip of material of predetermined Width and producing therein a plurality of lines of perforations of predetermined shape, corrugatlines to produce individual nail strips, and winding the nail strips upon independent reels.

5. The method of producing a plurality of individual nail strips comprising the utilization of an endless strip of material of predetermined Width and producing therein a plurality of lines of perforations, cutting the strip longitudinally along predetermined lines, scoring the strip along lines parallel to the lines of cut, breaking apart the units of the strip along the scored lines, and

winding the individual strips upon reels.

6. The method of producing nail strips from an endless strip of fiat material comprising periorating the strip along parallel lines, corrugating the strip transversely to the perforations, cutting the corrugated strip into a plurality of longitudinal strips, scoring the latter strips lengthwise between their edges, breaking apart the strips along the scored lines, and winding the individual strips produced upon independent reels.

'7. The method of fabricating nail strips from an endless sheet of flat material of predetermined width comprising the production lengthwise of said strip of a plurality of lines of apertures, corrugating the strip at an angle to the lines of perforations, cutting the strip into a plurality of individual strips, scoring the individual strips longitudinally, breaking the strips apart on the scored lines, and winding upon reels the several independent nail strips.

8. The method of fabricating nail strips from an endless sheet of fiat material comprising the production of a plurality of lines of apertures lengthwise of the sheet, corrugating the sheet transversely, severing the sheet into individual strips, scoring the individual strips lengthwise, and separating the strips along the scored lines.

9. The method of producing nail-strips comprising producing therein along the edges thereof a series of angular notches and simultaneous ly therewith, in the body of the strip, a plurality of slots; corrugating said strips transversely thereof, subjecting the corrugated strip to scoring means; and breaking the strip along the scored lines into a plurality of individual strips substantially as described.

10. The method of fabricating nail-strips from an endless sheet of fiat material comprising the production simultaneously in said strip of a plu rality of lines of edge-notches, a. plurality of slots and a plurality of apertures, all spaced apart laterally; corrugating the sheet transversely; severing the sheet into individual strips; scoring the individual strips lengthwise; and separating the strips along the scored lines.

11. The method of fabricating nail-strips from an endless sheet of fiat material comprising the production of feed notches therein; the production of a plurality of lines of apertures lengthwise of the sheet; corrugating the sheet transversely; severing the sheet into individual strips; and winding the individual strips on reels.

JOSEPH H. MCFAUL. 

